Humble onion more than just a flavor booster

Onions might be best known for their smell and how they make you cry when cutting them, but did you know that onions have healing powers as well?

Onions contain sulfur compounds and a flavonoid called Quercetin, both of which help the body remove, repair or reverse certain ailments. They also have antibiotic, antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties.

More ways onions can help improve your health include:

Lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol

Lowering blood pressure

Thought to be a cancer treatment, specifically stomach cancer

Protecting against cardiovascular disease

Natural blood thinner

Relieving sinus congestion, cold and flu symptoms

Lessening the risk of stroke

Lowering blood sugar in diabetics

Detoxifying the body by removing heavy metals, including cadmium, lead and mercury, from the body.

Relieving nausea and indigestion

Increasing bone density

Onion recipes for better health

To treat chest congestion, a compress can help.

Quarter 4 onions

Steam or lightly sauté in water until soft

Let cool until you are able to handle

Wrap in cheesecloth and secure with safety pins

Apply to chest

You can put it on under a shirt or towel to keep it in place.

For children you won’t need as many onions so you can cut the recipe down, depending on the size of your child. A good way to keep it in place for little ones is lay the pouch on their chest and wrap an ace bandage all the way around them and secure.

To treat earache, try the following:

Earaches can be very painful and it’s hard to watch your children suffer through one. But this simple recipe could help. Here’s what you’ll need:

1 onion with skin

Bowl

Spatula

Eyedropper

1. Steam the onion with the skin on. Keeping the skin on helps to keep all of the onion juice inside until you’re ready to use it.

2. Once it’s done (when it’s soft) cut in half and put one half into a bowl.

3. Then press the onion with a spatula or other utensil to squeeze out the juice.

4. Use the eyedropper to capture some of the juice

5. Put several drops into the ear and the earache should normally dissipate within 15 minutes or so.

6. If it doesn’t go away in that amount of time you can apply several more drops.

Onion can also help with acne

To help get rid of embarrassing acne, apply this simple mixture to your skin:

1 tablespoon fresh onion juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

Combine and rub over entire face with your fingers in a circular motion. Let sit for about 20 minutes then rinse off with warm water. Pat your face dry. This will help clear up blemishes. It can be used as a spot treatment for breakouts, too.

About Sage Vita

Sage Vita, which means a life of wisdom, advocates a lifestyle that will enable us to live not only longer but also well and to engage in lifelong learning and with the world around us. It does not give prescriptions but provides guidelines and information along a number of dimensions - including physical, mental, spiritual, social, and financial, for each of us to create our own unique Sage Vita lifestyle.